


Rookie Mistake

by Liberty_Prime



Series: Winter Wasteland [1]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 13:36:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6377626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liberty_Prime/pseuds/Liberty_Prime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just one in the myriad of shitty situations Knight Victoria Winter and Paladin Danse get themselves into while traveling the Commonwealth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rookie Mistake

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by in-game events. Don't jump onto random roofs.

“Get down from there, you’re going to get hurt.”

“C’mon Dansey, I’m fine!”

“I have told you, do NOT call me that.”

When he had agreed to accompany her through the Glowing Sea, he had expected the journey to be rushed, hurried. Get in, get what they needed, and get out.

But no. Nothing was ever that simple with Knight Winter. As usual, she insisted on exploring every building, every crater, every crevasse. No structure went unexamined. The junk she collected was enough to fill a trader Brahmin, and then some. And somehow, he always ended up carrying most of it.

It was infuriating.

Even more infuriating than her scavenging habits was the way she liked to climb on everything in sight. Rocks, cars, barriers, buildings; you name it, she had probably climbed on it at some point. Currently, she had pulled herself up onto the roof of a sunken church and was walking towards its peak. The building was mostly underground, at an angle, as if it had been pulled into a small sink hole. There were no doors or windows visible, and the roof was only a few feet above his head, just out of arm’s reach. His power armor prevented him from following her, but the un-armored hazmat suit that she insisted would protect her better than the T-60 armor the Brotherhood had supplied her, didn’t hamper her movements in the least. Even when he had warned her of the radscorpions, ghouls, and deathclaws that littered the glowing sea, she had just shrugged. 

Infuriatingly nonchalant, as always.

At the moment he could only see her outline, up on the roof, silhouetted against the strange green glow. There seemed to be no night or day in the Glowing Sea; just a never ending sickly green tint that washed over everything. It was dark, cold, and, even though he would never admit it, slightly terrifying.

The constant sound of his Geiger counter had become odd background noise, and green lightening crackled overhead, momentarily illuminating their surroundings.

“Knight Winter, I suggest you get down from there before-”

“It’s fine!” she called from above. “You really gotta get your-”

Her words were cut off by the sound of wood cracking and giving out as the roof collapsed. Her short scream pierced the air. He heard the wood hit the floor inside, and then there was silence.

Danse froze. He wanted to jump into action, but there was nothing he could do. Even if he could get onto the roof, what was left of it would just collapse further under his weight. That would cause even more damage, and put both of their lives in jeopardy. Danse knew Knight Winter could handle herself, but he just hoped she was conscious and unharmed. 

Miraculously, she had landed on a beam that ran between the balconies on either side of the interior of the building, looking down on the room below. She was high in the air, but uninjured. 

“Danse!” she screamed. 

A growl emitted from down below, and she could faintly see movement. 

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see figures running between the pews. The air was thick. The smell of death and rotting flesh was overpowering, even through her helmet.

“Oh my god, oh my god-”

Something moved to her right, and she pointed wildly with her pistol. The creature stood up and she fired one shot to its chest.

“Oh my god! Oh my god, oh-” Normally, she was able to keep a cool head. Normally, she stayed calm in the face of most situations, especially dangerous ones. But not now. Now, she was full-on panicking.

Ghouls.

Heart racing, hands shaking, her suit started to feel like it was choking her. She could barely see, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. Some wild scenario kept playing through her head: Paladin Danse was going to leave. She had made a stupid rookie mistake, and he was going to leave her there, trapped in a building full of ghouls, somewhere in the middle of the Glowing Sea where no one would ever find her.

_Alright, it’s fine. It’s fine, just calm down. Take a breath._

She paused, and focused on breathing. Looking at the ground down below, she could see at least ten, if not fifteen ghouls roaming around. There were noises coming from the stairs, and she could only assume at least a few of them had realized she was there. 

She started shooting.

Looking down her scope she started to pick off the ones she could. They scattered when they heard the gunshots, but most of them ran around blindly, tripping over benches and fallen rubble. She stopped to regain her balance, crouching on the beam, and saw the first of the ghouls coming through the balcony doorway toward her.

“Shit,” she cursed as she reloaded her gun. One of the ghouls lunged, but was blocked by the balcony railing. If it tried to climb over, it would likely just fall to the ground below. There were two others behind it, all crowding to get at her. 

Outside, Danse could hear the gunshots, but didn’t know what she was fighting. He had circled the building, looking for a way in, but found nothing. All of the doors and windows were now below ground, and the roof was still out of reach. Besides, getting them both stuck inside would be a bigger mistake than this whole situation already was. He got as close as he could to the hole in the roof.

“Winter! Can you hear me?” he shouted as loud as he could. The power armor helmet made it more difficult to be loud, but he wouldn’t dare take it off here unless he absolutely had to.

“Danse!”

“Are you alright?”

“Don’t go!” her inaudible shout came from inside. A couple more gunshots rang out.

“What? Winter, I can’t hear you! Try to find a way out!” He went to circle the building again, looking for anything that might be able to help. 

After picking off as many ghouls as she could, she carefully climbed off the beam onto the balcony and ran for the staircase leading down below. One ghoul appeared and she shot it in the head. It fell backwards down the stairs and landed with a thump at the bottom. She turned on her pip-boy light, took a breath, and plunged down the stairs.

The floor of the church was littered with rubble and dead bodies. Danse yelled something outside but she couldn’t make out what. There were still a few ghouls roving around, so she moved quietly, firing a bullet into the nearest ghoul and lining up for the next. Her hands were still shaking, throwing off her aim, and it took her three shots to take down the second ghoul.

Suddenly, she was hit from behind. Stumbling, she collided with a pew and fell over it, cracking her helmet on the wood floor.

“Shit!” She flailed, trying to find the ghoul that had hit her. The crack in the glass made it even harder to see, but she caught movement out of the corner of her eye and fired shot after shot into the room. Silence fell.

She could almost taste the disgusting air filtering in steadily through her broken helmet. Slowly, she stood. It seemed that that was the last of the ghouls, but she was still in a hurry to get out. She ran for the only door at the far end of the building. It was blocked. None of the windows were above the level of the irradiated soil outside. Swearing, she ran back up the stairs to where she had fallen through the roof.

“Danse! I can’t get out! The doors are blocked!”

“Try the steeple!” she heard his muffled shout from outside. The steeple. Right. 

She sprinted back down the stairs and across the room to the spiral staircase that led up to the steeple. Her breath was coming in short wheezes. She had to get out before Danse left. There was usually an opening at the top of the tower that led outside, and she sprinted up the winding staircase with her eyes screwed shut, boots thumping rhythmically on the wooden steps. When she finally reached the top she threw the wooden hatch door open and climbed out. She could see Paladin Danse down below looking up at her. It was a bit of a far drop, but a possible twisted ankle was a price she would gladly pay to get away from the ghoul infested church.

She jumped. The landing was hard, but she got out unscathed.

When she looked up, Danse was walking toward her. She ran at him and threw her weight against his front. Arms wrapped around his waist, she put her head on his chest piece.

“Thanks for not leaving,” she mumbled into the metal of his armor.

He paused, hands hovering near her back. “What?”

“Nothing,” she said hastily. “Nothing.”

“I… are you alright?”

She stood back quickly. “Yeah, totally fine. That was fine. I wasn’t scared or anything. Totally fine.”

Although she couldn’t see his face through his helmet, she knew he was giving her a disbelieving, and most definitely disapproving, look. They started walking, a little closer together than before.

“I cracked my helmet. It’s probably fine, right?”

Danse sighed.


End file.
